Inside Sunagakure.
Rasa sat in his office within the Kazekage Building, wearing a deeply troubled expression.
Sunagakure was currently suffering from a severe lack of funding. After their defeat in the Third Great Ninja World War, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind—who had always advocated for military downsizing—had further reduced financial support to Sunagakure, leaving insufficient funds to train shinobi properly.
Without Rasa's use of Magnet Release to extract gold dust and fund the village, the number of shinobi in Sunagakure would have plummeted dramatically.
Rasa had originally been waiting for an opportunity. Konoha's Hiruzen Sarutobi was already very old, and still hadn't chosen a successor for the position of Sixth Hokage.
He had been hoping for Hiruzen Sarutobi's retirement or natural death, because as long as power remained tightly held in his hands, any leadership transition would inevitably cause some level of instability within Konoha.
That moment would have been Rasa's chance.
Back when the First Kazekage, Reido, attended the first Kage Summit, he rejected Hashirama Senju's offer of tailed beasts and instead demanded land and money.
Although scolded by the other Kage, the First Kazekage persisted. In the end, Hashirama gave in and handed over a portion of fertile territory.
That land formed the foundation on which Sunagakure was built.
Just a small stretch of fertile land had allowed Sunagakure to thrive—if they could claim more like it now, it wouldn't matter how much the Daimyo cut funding.
But what Rasa didn't expect was that Konoha's Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had not died after all—he was surprisingly still alive after all this time and was now awake.
This completely ruined Rasa's plans.
Konoha had become too dominant—if this continued, Sunagakure would remain forever in its shadow.
At best, Sunagakure would be seen as Konoha's most loyal ally. At worst, it would be no more than Konoha's lapdog—acting only with their permission.
Could a Sunagakure stripped of its independence still truly be considered one of the Five Great Ninja Villages?
As Rasa brooded in frustration, suddenly he felt a chilling sensation—as though someone were watching him.
He immediately shot to his feet and turned sharply behind him.
His eyes narrowed. Outside the window was a snake.
But there should not be snakes like that in the desert.
Which meant this snake must belong to someone's summoned beast.
Even after being discovered, the snake did not flee. So Rasa opened the window.
Just as he suspected, the snake made no move to attack him. Instead, its belly began to writhe before spitting out a scroll.
After dropping the scroll, the snake dissolved into a puff of smoke and vanished.
Looking at the scroll, Rasa frowned deeply.
It was disgusting.
Biting back his nausea, Rasa picked up the scroll and began reading it.
As his eyes scanned its contents, his expression turned grave, shock flashing across his face.
Without a word, he slowly returned to his chair, his face now heavy with concern.
Rasa never expected that the currently rising Otogakure Village was actually manipulated behind the scenes by Orochimaru and Chinya, this master-apprentice duo.
Even less expected was the fact that both Orochimaru and Chinya wanted to cooperate with Sunagakure to attack Konoha.
Rasa sat back in his chair, weighing whether the plan could actually work.
Suddenly, Rasa burst into laughter: "Hearing that Otogakure maintains such close cooperation with Konoha is truly amusing. That old monkey Hiruzen Sarutobi being played for a fool by his own student and great-student? Simply hilarious."
After laughing for a while, Rasa's smile vanished as his eyes narrowed slightly.
Both Orochimaru and Chinya were well-known Rogue Ninja from Konoha who harbored intense hatred toward their former village throughout the entire Shinobi World.
Therefore, regarding their desire to cooperate with Sunagakure against Konoha, Rasa actually found their intentions quite credible—after all, the Joint Chunin Examinations hosted by Konoha presented an excellent opportunity.
Orochimaru and Chinya possessed formidable power, especially Chinya, who was universally recognized as standing at the pinnacle of the current ninja world. Plus there was the now-thriving Otogakure Village.
The final match of Konoha's Joint Chunin Examinations would require his attendance in Konoha—making it the perfect moment for a combined inside-and-outside attack...
Rasa's fingers rhythmically tapped against the table.
This… might just be worth a shot.
Yet Orochimaru himself was famously deceitful throughout the Shinobi World.
After considering carefully, Rasa decided he should meet directly with Orochimaru and Chinya before making any decisions.
Summoning three trusted Jonin, Rasa departed from Sunagakure toward the meeting location.
...
Chinya, Orochimaru, and Kabuto Yakushi were waiting in the shadow of some sandstone formations.
Chinya asked: "Master Orochimaru, with your current strength, killing Hiruzen Sarutobi would be extremely easy. I'll handle Minato Namikaze, and no one else poses a threat to you. It seems unnecessary to involve Kidomaru and use the Four-Corner Sealing Barrier just to create a one-on-one fight between you and Hiruzen Sarutobi, right?"
Orochimaru responded: "In other words, although I shall let him die as a hero, I want to witness whether his 'Will of Fire' gains recognition from the First and Second Hokage. If both the First and Second Hokage recognize his Will of Fire, then it proves Konoha itself has been a corrupt, lying village since its foundation."
Chinya stroked his chin thoughtfully: "If that's the case, then let's do it together."
Orochimaru expressed surprise: "Together? What exactly do you mean..."
Chinya nodded firmly: "Let Minato Namikaze learn the truth too. Since we're revealing the truth to him, shouldn't the person directly involved—Hiruzen Sarutobi—also be present? When these lies get torn apart and the bloody reality spreads before Minato Namikaze, I'd really like to see how he continues lying to himself."
Orochimaru chuckled softly: "Heh, then let's coordinate accordingly at that time."
Suddenly turning toward the right, Chinya spoke to Orochimaru and Kabuto: "Master Orochimaru, Yakushi, our prey has taken the bait—they're already rushing here. There are four coming altogether."
Orochimaru instructed Kabuto: "Yakushi, fall back for now."
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru. Please also be careful, Chinya-sama."
Kabuto Yakushi temporarily left the area and hid at a distant spot with good visibility of where they were.
Stretching lazily, Chinya said, "Leave those three jonin to me later. Master Orochimaru, you can rest assured while testing your Sharingan ability on Rasa."
Lord Orochimaru wore a serpentine smile.
"Hmm, I expect Rasa will provide even more data about this container. After all, I've implanted more than one Kekkei Genkai into it."
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